In late 2025, the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain will inaugurate its new exhibition spaces at 2, place du Palais-Royal in Paris. Designed by architect Jean Nouvel like the glass building located on boulevard Raspail in Paris, this venue marks a turning point in the institution’s history.

In October 2025, the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contempo rain will inaugurate its new exhibition spaces in the heart of Paris, 2, place du Palais-Royal. This huge historic building was built next to the Louvre in 1854 on the initiative of Napoleon III to welcome visitors to the 1855 Paris Universal Exhibition. It underwent many changes over the 19th and 20th centuries. Initially named the “Grand Hôtel du Louvre” (1855-1880), it later became the “Grands Magasins du Louvre” (1880-1978) and then the “Louvre des Antiquaires” (1978-2019). For the Fondation Cartier, Jean Nouvel completely reshaped and re habilitated the building’s interior spaces to offer a modular architectural machine to the service of artistic creativity.

After almost five years of work, the Fondation Cartier reveals Jean Nouvel’s architectural project in a lavishly illustrated book. Featuring numerous photographs of the exterior and interior spaces, it traces the building’s unique history and explores the technical specificities of Jean Nouvel’s architectural device. The major projects that have marked the architect’s career are also discussed, including those designed for the Fondation Cartier and for other exhibition venues in France and around the world.

This book highlights a highly ambitious architectural project, the outcome of almost forty years of exchanges and dialogues between the Fondation Cartier and Jean Nouvel.